Mom who tried to sell baby headed to prison

Tuesday

Dec 17, 2013 at 10:01 AMDec 17, 2013 at 10:02 AM

By Don Reiddwreid@aol.comCOLDWATER — Branch County Circuit Judge Bill O’Grady found it hard to believe Kelsey Dwater would commit a crime on her way to court to be sentenced for another crime."Did you think it would be a freebie; one more felony for the road?’ he asked the 25-year-old mother of four.After pleading guilty to larceny of a check and attempted uttering of the forged check, Dwater was sentenced to prison for 23 months to four years for the theft and 17 months to five years for the forgery."I wasn’t thinking," Dwater admitted. "I’m very selfish and self-centered."Dwater was sentenced in March to 11 months in jail and 24 months on probation for attempting to sell her newborn baby. She said the eight months she had already served in prison made her believe she could complete probation."I want to spend time with my children," she said.Dwater claimed the case of attempting to sell her baby "was blown out of proportion."Dwater had agreed to take a phone from a family that wanted to adopt her child and she also asked them to give her a car, which they refused to do.Branch County Prosecutor Ralph Kimble noted then that a text from Dwater to the prospective adoptive parents demanding $6,000 to sign adoption papers "pulled the rug out from under the adopting family."Investigators confronted Dwater as she went to the hospital to deliver the baby. She blamed the baby’s father for the messages but they were traced back to Dwater, who was living in Quincy but moved to the Reading area.Child Protective Services took custody of the child and placed the baby in foster care.On her way to court on March 11 Dwater gave a check she had stolen from Jeff Blue at Bluzers’s — where she had worked for two weeks — to a friend to cash for $700. She said they split the money.As part of the plea agreement pending felony charges in Hillsdale County will be dismissed.

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